Photos by MaxPreps photographers
By analyzing the
MaxPreps Computer Rankings, we determined that
in 2013 the toughest region for high school football was the West.
With teams like St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.), Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) and Bellevue (Wash.), the West will be stacked again in 2014 — but it's a new season, and everything is up for grabs.
There are some
huge games already on the slate for this weekend and most states will have started come September, so it's time for the predictions and prognostications to end and for the real action to begin.
As one final look ahead, below is a list of the Top 25 teams from each region. For the purposes of these rankings, the country was broken down into five regions:
West: California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Hawaii, Alaska, and Montana.
Southwest: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Midwest: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
South:
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South
Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia,
Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
Northeast: Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware and Vermont.
MaxPreps 2014 Preseason Regional Football Rankings
West
Perennial Southern California power Mater Dei heads into the 2014 season as the top football team in the West region.
Photo by Louis Lopez
1.
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.)2.
Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas)3.
St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.)4.
Servite (Anaheim, Calif.)5.
Folsom (Calif.)See the rest of the West region's Top 25Southwest
Allen, last year's Texas 5A Division 1 champion, is the top football team in the Southwest region heading into 2014.
File photo by Robbie Rakestraw
1.
Allen (Texas)2.
Cedar Hill (Texas)3.
Guyer (Denton, Texas)4.
Katy (Texas)5.
DeSoto (Texas)See the rest of the Southwest region's Top 25Midwest
St. Edward is the No. 7 team in the country and No. 1 in the Midwest heading into the 2014 season.
Photo by Scott Mapes
1.
St. Edward (Lakewood, Ohio)2.
Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati)3.
Lee's Summit West (Mo.)4.
Ben Davis (Indianapolis)5.
Blue Springs (Mo.)
See the rest of the Midwest region's Top 25South
St. Thomas Aquinas enters this season as the top-ranked team in the South region.
Photo by Stuart Browning
1.
St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)2.
Trinity Christian Academy (Jacksonville, Fla.)3.
Washington (Miami)4.
Central (Miami)5.
Hoover (Ala.)See the rest of the South region's Top 25Northeast
St. Joseph's Prep is the top team in the Northeast region heading into the 2014 high school football season.
Photo by Ken Inness
1.
St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia)2.
Archbishop Wood (Warminster, Pa.)3.
St. Peter's Prep (Jersey City, N.J.)4.
St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.)5.
Aquinas Institute (Rochester, N.Y.)
See the rest of the Northeast region's Top 25
